The seeming economic success of this year’s Black Friday-But-Really-Thursday, judged by many as an economic win-win for business and consumers, got us wondering what we as a country have gained in terms of what psychologists …
Psychology of Money
Going Shopping? Beware of Shopping Momentum
The Christmas shopping season is upon us, and if you decide to indulge in the shopping frenzy, be careful. Not just of your health, but of your wallet. Buying at bargain prices is a worthy thing, but once you start shopping it …
Attention Holiday Shoppers: Plastic Hurts—Then Hurts Again!
The always-insightful Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal once said that great personal finance journalism is really the art of communicating the same handful of important lessons over and over again without boring people. …
Jennifer Lopez Drives Fiat on Stage: Most Brazen Product Placement Ever?
At the American Music Awards last night, Jennifer Lopez shed her clothes, strutted back and forth on stage in a nearly nude body suit, and simulated sex with the rapper Pitbull. But because the performance featured a Fiat 500 at center stage for no sensible reason, JLo probably won’t be remembered for being raunchy, but for being a sell-out.
We Buy Fun Stuff With Credit, Dull Stuff With Cash
It’s well-documented that people cut loose and spend more when they’re paying with a credit card rather than cash. Scientists refer to this as a “decoupling of purchase from the pain of payment” — essentially, we don’t perceive credit cards as “real money.” But a new study takes this observation a step further by postulating that we …
8 Money Habits That Separate Doers From Dreamers
When it comes to securing financial security, are you a doer or a dreamer? By definition, financial doers have a better shot at reaching their retirement goals. No real surprise, they also have a much better shot at raising …
America’s Love-Hate Relationship with Wealth
I’ve been on the road for the past two months, mostly in Bolivia and Peru, where I was pretty off the grid and didn’t keep up with the news. So I arrived home to find a strange phenomenon: Protesters “occupying” Wall Street. And …
Workers With Bad Credit Aren’t Less Ethical
Nearly half of all companies check the credit reports of at least some prospective employees during the hiring process, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. This is a daunting statistic for many job-seekers, …
Nice Guys’ Credit Scores Finish Last
If you’re cranky, selfish, rude or all-around disagreeable, your grouchiness comes with one big silver lining: You’re likely to have better credit than people who are affable, friendly and otherwise pleasant company.
The NBA Lockout and the Economy: An Overstated Impact
The NBA lockout keeps eating away at the regular season, like the revolting tapeworm that it is. Regular season games had been scheduled to start last week. Now all November games have been canceled. As the stalemate drags on,
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Fashion Faux Pas: When Regular Deals Beat Flash Deals
Flash sales and daily deals from the likes of Groupon and Gilt succeed in two key ways: First, the big, prominently featured discount off the original retail price gets consumers excited by the prospect of a great value; second, …
Why You’re Probably Financially Better Off Than You Feel
There’s no question that for many (if not most) Americans, today’s economy is challenging for numerous reasons we need not list. For a lot of people, though, their sense of economic vulnerability is greater than their actual …